Darlinghurst is a densely populated suburb with the majority of residents living in apartments or terraced houses.

Once a slum and red-light district, Darlinghurst has undergone urban renewal since the 1980s to become a cosmopolitan area made up of precincts.

This major Sydney road runs east from the south-eastern corner of Hyde Park through Darlinghurst and Paddington and terminates at Bondi Junction.

[8] It is home to a number of prominent gay venues and businesses, while more broadly Darlinghurst is a centre of Sydney's burgeoning small bar scene.

[10] This reported increase should be understood in terms of a very low background crime rate in East Sydney in general.

Although only minutes walk away from the Sydney CBD, this region is geographically distinct from it; separated from the more well known commercial centre by several landmarks: Central railway station, Hyde Park, St Mary's Cathedral and The Domain.

Sandstone was quarried there, originally with convict labour, and it continued to be extracted there into the second half of the nineteenth century, using prisoners from the nearby Darlinghurst Gaol.

[19] In the 19th century, the prominent ridge of Darlinghurst was the site of windmills that made use of the breezes from Sydney Harbour.

In about 1819, Thomas Clarkson, a merchant, erected a windmill, built of stone with a rotating top, near what is now the intersection of Liverpool and Darley streets.

It was near Thomas Mitchell's Craigend villa, on the highest point of the ridge, near what is now the top of Beare's Stairs in Caldwell Street.

Between 1828 and 1831, Darling made seventeen land grants to wealthy merchants, public servants and private citizens.

[22][23] The late 19th century saw Darlinghurst become the final days of English-born Australian novelist Ethel Pedley.

She died at her home on 6 August 1898 at the age of 39 from complications of cancer whilst writing Dot and the Kangaroo, which would be retrospectively published a year later.

In 1973, Darlinghurst saw a green ban as a ban on all commercial construction was placed by the NSW Builders Labourers Federation (BLF) as residents demanded that all housing should be high density low-rise with adequate provision for low and middle income families to live within the inner-city area.

The suburb also features St Vincent's Hospital, and is associated with the Sacred Heart Hospice on Darlinghurst Road, and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research.

The large sandstone walls still bear convict markings, and the complex features six wings surrounding a circular chapel.

Australian poet Henry Lawson spent time incarcerated here during some of the turbulent years of his life.

The central block is adapted from an 1823 design in Peter Nicholson's The New Practical Builder (Apperly, Irving & Reynolds, 1989).

Oxford Street is the major commercial thoroughfare of Darlinghurst, running from the south-east corner of Hyde Park, through Taylor Square and beyond into Paddington, Woollahra and Bondi Junction, respectively.

Of occupied private dwellings in Darlinghurst, 78.8% were flats or apartments and 19.6% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc.

These pubs and clubs were subject to controversial 'lock-out' laws imposed by the Liberal state government in February 2014, in which venues stopped admitting new customers after 01:30, and ceased the service of alcohol between 03:00 and 05:00.

Darlinghurst is well-served by lots of forms of public transport, with many bus routes from the Eastern Suburbs converging on Oxford Street prior to entering the Sydney central business district.

Museum station on the City Circle, is located just to the west of Darlinghurst, on the south-west corner of Hyde Park.

Darlinghurst Public School, located on the corner of Liverpool Street and Womerah Avenue, was opened in 1884.

Many claim that these shifts have been attempted to shift the balance of power in the favour of the party in control of the State Government, though some residents of Darlinghurst and Potts Point (the former North Ward of the City of South Sydney) felt that the postcodes of 2010 (Darlinghurst and Surry Hills) and 2011 (Elizabeth Bay, Kings Cross, Rushcutters Bay, Woolloomooloo and Potts Point) were relatively neglected by the City of South Sydney.

Critics of the amalgamation have claimed that the election demonstrated strong voter backlash against the State Government for pressing the issue.

Darlinghurst has a number of heritage-listed sites, including the following sites listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register: The following buildings are listed on the now defunct Register of the National Estate:[39] The Darlinghurst area is famous for the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

[citation needed] There is also a gallery in the National Art School that hosts exhibitions in a mid-19th century sandstone building.